Author's note: Before you dive into my story (thanks for giving it a shot!), I want to make it clear that this is a FANFIC story- not a real story- made by my own imagination, bridging off of Shannon Messenger's own original idea. I do not own this idea, neither did I create it, but I'm only expanding it in the way I believe it should go. Got that?

Anyways, this is my first Fanfic I've ever written down, and I do apologize for any grammar mistakes, etc. but I hope you can find comfort in my story as I did in KOTLC. Enjoy! :)

Marella wished the rumors were true. The rumor that her dream was whispering about, taunting her about how close it really was. Yet the safety of it was too far to reach. In the blank landscape her mind roamed around in while she slept, the winds blew around her telling her one thing.

If you run fast enough your worries will disappear.

Trail behind you.

Lost in the your trail of dust.

You'll finally be free.

Over and over it taunted her. With no ending in sight. Marella clutched her head, hating the secrets that surfaced in her head, swirling around into a force that was much too strong to control.

For anyone to control.

She screamed, her voice carrying through the blank nothingness, hating her situation, her world, her feelings, but most of all,

Herself.

The person who she had created to appeal to others, even though they still wanted nothing to do with her. The person who was her mask, because Marella's own true self was too scared to appear. But now it was too late. That person had grown into who she was now, who she would be forever-

And she hated it.

The winds that were whipping around her, now began slashing into her body like knives, the pain causing her to curl into a ball, suspended in what seemed like thin air for what felt like forever. Then it stopped.

Cautiously coming out of her little ball, she realized it was a trick to lure her out to show her something. Something she would later wish she could forget. But how could she? In front of her was a wall of flames. Neon flames. A shudder ran through Marella's body.

Everblaze.

Tearing up everything she saw around her, and as she tried to stop it, it dawned on Marella.

The flames would always burn.

There was no changing that.

Ever.

The flames consumed her.

Marella woke up, breaking out into a cold sweat, shivering despite the warmth she felt from her dream. Clutching her chest, wheezing at the smoke that may have been real, a single question formed in her head, making her uncertain about many things.

Was that…. Real?

Of course it wasn't, she told herself. But it felt like it was. She could still feel the warmth lingering, trying to tell her something, but what was it? The wind had been trying to tell her something too. The flames, however, had drowned it out. She couldn't help but feel like what it was going to say was important.

Something vital to her knowing.

But the time to think about that was later. Her father, Kace Redek, stormed into her room- literally. As a guster he could control the wind and he entered her room, riding on a wave of wind, just like he had when she was a small elf. Marella smiled. Some things never change. Her father wore a smile too, one that trailed all the way up to his ice-blue eyes that were perfect copies of her own.

His chocolate brown hair was swept into something that mirrored a wave, and his hand reached up to style it once again. On him, he wore a simple gray tunic underneath a pale blue vest, complete with his black work pants and a regular jeweled cape clasped together with the Redek crest. "Up and at them buster," He crossed her room in three short steps. 'I'm leaving early today, and won't come home until really, really late, so you've got to take care of your mom- got that?"

His eyes twinkled as he mused up her hair. Marella showed him a gentle smile. "Got it captain," She looked into his eyes. "Just be careful…." She had told him those same words everyday since the day of her mom's- She shook her head. It was best to not think about it.

He saluted her, and after flashing another smile, he kissed her on the cheek and rode out of the room, mimicking a surfer riding a wave, earning him a giggle from her. She waited until after he had exited the room, and then she got to work.

She stood up, yawning and stretching at the same time, releasing some of her morning breath from her mouth, and she began to notice what time it was. Clapping her hands twice, her midnight blue shades parted, running across her huge center window, a large rectangle that took up an entire wall of her room, and Marella was revealed to a morning sunrise, with the sun already set high into the sky.

With her bare feet touching down on the soft neon orange dinosaur fluff that wove in and out of her carpet (The gnomes had been kind enough to do this for her when she was a small little elf, after she had figured out that flowers weren't soft enough to be walked on bare-foot,) she walked over to a white door set next to a large bookshelf, and Marella entered her bathroom.

Walking on the cold granite floor, she quickly hopped to a small rug, and she sat in a plump purple armchair. In front of another large mirror that hung above the small table she was sitting at, Marella brushed out her hair with a jeweled comb, undoing the tiny little braids she had made that last day that wove in and out of her blond hair. After they had all been brushed out, she began making more tiny little braids and she tied them all at the end with a tiny clear elastic band.

She looked at herself in the mirror, satisfied with her hair job, and crossed the room to find the corner where her Foxfire uniform had been balled up and thrown at the day before, like every day, and she put it on, smoothing out the crinkles in it that would never go away.

After making sure she had everything packed and ready to go, she stepped out of her bathroom, and waited in front of her bedroom door. A deep breath prepared her for what she might see, how she might react, and what mood she would be in. Her hand grasped the cold metal doorknob, and Marella rested her head on the door.

She wished it wasn't like this. But she had to confront her. Slowly pulling the door open, she entered the hallway and went straight to the door across from her's. Calling out, she knocked on the door. "Mom?"